LAW AFFECTS LICENSE, PERMIT PRIVILEGES OF CHILD SUPPORT DEBTORS

Parents who are delinquent on court-ordered child support payments are not eligible to purchase license or permits issued by the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks.

A law approved by the 2007 Kansas Legislature and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (House Bill 2393) requires the state’s Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to maintain a list of individuals in arrears on child support. KDWP receives updated electronic files of those individuals to match against applicants for licenses and permits. The law also outlines procedures by which individuals may be removed from the list of delinquent child support debtors, reinstating their privileges for KDWP licenses and permits.

After comparing the SRS database against KDWP’s licensing database, the department’s Licensing Section this week sent letters to affected individuals, informing each that they will not be able to purchase licenses and permits until his or her name is removed from the SRS-maintained list. The law also affects lifetime license holders. About 2,800 KDWP customers are affected, and have been sent letters informing them of their status.

KDWP’s automated licensing system will prohibit transactions with individuals on the SRS list and, upon denial of the transaction, those individuals will be provided information stating the basis for the action and advising them to contact SRS’ Child Support Enforcement staff to discuss.

According to SRS, this new law will keep Kansas in compliance with the Federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, thus preventing the loss of approximately $36 million in federal child support enforcement funds each year.